Girl Scout Troop Swam Away from 14-Foot Gator Chasing After Them in a Lake: ‘This Is How I Die’

A Girl Scout troop in Texas survived a scary encounter with a giant alligator while swimming in a lake. 

Members of Troop 114204 were at Lake Raven in Huntsville State Park on Saturday for an overnight camping trip, local NBC affiliate KPRC-TV reported. On that trip, they planned to explore the park and learn how to fish. 

As they swam in the lake, an alligator, estimated to have been about 14 feet long, approached them. The gator’s presence caused panic and chaos among the troop members, who in dramatic video captured that day appeared to try to climb structures to evade it. 

In the video, the gator can be seen charging rapidly in the direction of the girls in the water. The girls are frantic and can be seen yelling, trying to evade the gator. 

“I was thinking, this is the day I die,” 11-year-old Ava Miller told KPRC-TV. “It was moving faster than us or about the same.”

One Girl Scout can be seen jumping into the water, unaware that a gator was charging at her fellow troopers. 

Troop leader Nichole Glenn intervened, positioning herself between the gator and the girls to help them out of the water. 

“There was no doubt in my mind that that alligator was not going to try and eat somebody,” Glenn said.

“I always say that I love them to death. I always say I would do anything for them. Now, I definitely know I would do anything for them,” Glenn said.

The troop got away from the gator safely, and the girls gave the gator the nickname “Karen,” according to KPRC-TV. 

“I was close enough to get hurt. And I didn’t even know it was there. So I should probably focus on my surroundings more,” scout Erin White said.